Power Shifts Back to the Writers

Self publishing is more profitable than third party publishers.

“A penny saved is a penny earned.” — Benjamin Franklin

The music executives were very angry.

I attended the largest music conference in Asia-Pacific a few years ago. Over one thousand top executives from all over the world gathered in Hong Kong to talk about the challenges to the music business as piracy was destroying their traditional model.

Top executives got onto the stage and decried the end of the music business as consumers weren’t wanting to pay for CDs anymore and companies like Apple, who came from outside of the industry, were taking market share from them.

I sat in the audience slightly bemused. I was going to be giving a speech later that day and then I was on a panel the next day.

They saw the end of the world.

I saw a changing landscape filled with opportunity.

Shifting Power

Book publishing went through a massive transformation a decade ago as they moved from physical to digital books. Publishers were concerned that this would be the collapse of their business.

Digital books have grown but still only represent about 10% of the total industry. This is a significant number and digital is projected to grow. But it shows that there wasn’t a collapse in the market. People are just afraid of the unknown. And the industry is still rapidly changing.

A recent article in the Book Seller noted a new trend happening in book publishing.

The article showed that median earnings from writing for authors with third-party publishers stands at approximately $8,600. However, it found the median revenue for independent authors was $12,749.

Now neither of these numbers are enough to support someone’s existence. There is no mystery that it is hard to make a living solely as an author which is why most supplement their income through other means.

But this is a significant shift to show the power moving from the traditional publishers back to the writers. This has only been made possible by the emergence of technology and its democratization of opportunity. There is an opposing argument which shows that technology has only once again consolidated influence around a select few. It just depends on what side of the coin you are looking at.

I was surprised and encouraged at this change as I have been working on my own novel.

I continue to hear that the best route to book publishing success is to get an agent, write letters to big publishers and then expect to get rejected. Even before starting the entire narrative is negative.

I know for a fact that I can get my book edited and published with a hybrid publisher who will distribute it digitally and physically around the world. All of this is done with print-on-demand so there is no inventory. I am just paying for design.

I was encouraged by this data of self publishing. I am not writing my book to make money. I am just happy to be working on my first novel. But I like that the tools and power have shifted back to the writers.

Power to the Writer

As I took the stage at the music conference, I stared out into an audience of people not wanting change. The music industry had seen its business devastated by piracy.

I was in the video game business with EA and we suffered from the same pirates. But instead of trying to sue everyone, as the music industry did, we figured out what the consumers really wanted. They didn’t want to pay $15 for a CD with a bunch of songs they didn’t want to listen to. And they didn’t want to pay $50 for a video game.

So we gave them the game for free and created a model where they could buy digital assets, upgrades and features to enhance their experience. While they didn’t want to pay us $50 at one time, they didn’t mind paying us over $100 over a year but in smaller increments.

Over five years we helped to create a $15 billion industry in Asia while the music industry dropped to zero. They eventually figured this out and transitioned to digital. But they could have done it sooner and they continue to kick themselves by allowing Apple to have taken so much share.

Media is ever changing.

We started with books and then radio appeared. Then we evolved from radio to TV, TV to the internet. Each evolution has brought fear and anxiety. We are seeing a mini evolution now with ChatGPT.

Each time we have navigated the change and moved forward. It hasn’t always been positive. Some feel TV made us a bit dumber, some feel tech is adding to our depression. These are both true to some extent. But then there is good.

In the end, we writers have our voice, spirit and words to express ourselves. No one can take our spirit. And it is difficult to take our voice and words although we all keep trying with senseless bans, censoring, cancelling and silencing.

For now, we can write. And at least for today the game has shifted back to the writer’s favor.

And that is a good thing.

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